Tiso Blackstar sells stake in Kagiso Tiso to pay debt

Tiso Blackstar still has other noncore businesses that it plans to sell in future.

The KTH investment came after a tie-up between Blackstar and Tiso Investment Holdings nearly two years ago.

Tiso Blackstar's intention is to become a single-sector investment holding company, with a focus on media and related industries. Its media assets include newspapers, magazines as well as radio stations in SA, Kenya and Ghana.

Tiso Blackstar will use part of the proceeds to repay its R413m debt. The remaining funds will be reinvested into mediafocused investments.

"With this deal we delivered on our stated strategy to sell noncore assets and companies," said Tiso Blackstar's CEO Andrew Bonamour.

The group had strong core businesses with good cash flow in SA and good growth assets in Kenya, Ghana and "a beachhead" in Lagos, Nigeria.

"We have good partners in these respective operations. We are not looking to invest more here. We covered both West and East Africa. Ideally in these markets we would look at consolidation opportunities," he said.

The group was looking at technology, media and telecommunications opportunities internationally. KTH has investments in sectors such as health, media and financial services.

Kagiso Capital CEO Kgotso Schoeman said the deal - which would give it just more than 60% - meant Kagiso would become a strategic investor in KTH.

Source: Business Day